The tomb of Queen Merytneith was originally
overlooked by the first excavator in the Umm el
Ga'ab area at
Abydos, but was later identified by
Sir William Petrie. External measures of this
tomb are 16.50 x 13.90 x 2.70 meters with internal
measurements of 8.90 x 6.30 meters. The wall
thickness of the tomb is 1.30-1.60 meters. The
central chamber was surrounded with eight narrow
storerooms where numerous sealed jars were found. In
the funerary chamber, somewhat deeper compared to
the storerooms, was found the stela of Merytneith.
The tomb is surrounded by 41 subsidiary graves.

Floorplan of the Tomb Y at Abydos
belonging to Queen Merytneith

Saqqara. Tumba de la reina
Merneith: planta y corte longitudinal.

Here is the evidence:

A cluster of tombs
belonging to first dynasty pharaohs was found at Abydos.

Mastaba de la reina Merneith

Each
consists of a large underground chamber lined with mud bricks.
Surrounding it were rows consisting of small rooms for the burial of
retainers dispatched to serve their monarch in the next world. All
had been plundered. One of these tombs had a stela bearing the name
Merneith, with no title or other information. It is tempting to
dismiss the stela as a coincidence but all of the tombs and known
pharaohs have been matched. If it is not her tomb the mystery is
even deeper.

She also has a tomb at
Saqqara alongside those of other 1st Dynasty monarchs.

A seal bears her name along
with the names of other Pharaohs.

This is not much to go on,
but it will have to do. Above the other names on the seal is the
Horus symbol signifying a pharaoh. Above her name are the symbols
for the title King’s Mother. Nowhere do we find any of the symbols
used to designate a reigning Pharaoh, but why else would her name
appear with that of other rulers. She must have been a very
remarkable woman to be granted the privilege of a tomb in the royal
burial grounds at Abydos and at Saqqara.

There is certainly sufficient
evidence to prove the existence of a very prominent queen bearing
the name Merneith. Whether that is enough to prove she ruled as
Pharaoh is another question. It should be noted that Merneith is
normally a male name. The female equivalent would be Merytneith
(and in some English language books that is how her name appears).
We know she has to be a woman because she bears the title King’s
Mother. Based on the length of the reigns of her husband Djet and
her son Den, it is not impossible to believe that she served as
regent for an infant son until he reached maturity, but we just do
not know.

When English
archaeologist Flinders Petrie re-excavated the tombs at
the old burial ground of
Abydos during 1901 he unexpectedly found an unknown
tomb whose owner bore the name Mer-Neith.
The monument itself was a traditional
building under ground with side chambers within like the
mastaba tombs (picture left) accompanied with side
burials of retainers outside.
At first he thought that he had found an unknown king,
but soon new fact came to light telling the unexpected
truth that Mer-Neith was a woman.
It became clear that she was the widow and queen of king
Djet and held office during the childhood and youth of
their son, the next ruler to be - king Den whose name
appeared in the grave.
A proof of her position in the sequence of leaders was
later found on a
seal impression from the tomb of her son, where her
name was put along with the ruling kings but without the
king's insignia - the Horus falcon.
In other lists from later times however, the Egyptians
did not mention her, only her son. Above all, her name
was found on a fine stele made of stone (picture right)
that probably have had the same function as the one
found from her husband - to mark the place of offering
for the veneration of her immortal soul.
For later commemoration she also had a
ritual area in Abydos, beside the ones from five
other regents.
Her name contains the old patroness and war goddess from
Lower Egypt -
Neith and means: "beloved by Neith", whose regalia,
(shield and arrows), are present on small labels from
this time as well as her big stela. That the queen thus
was a native of the Delta is a plausible guess, thereby
making a sort of matrimonial alliance between the North
and the South, but this is so far not confirmed.
Few remains attested to her are found outside Abydos,
probably because all official sign, marks of property
etc were made in the name of her little son. An
exception is a great mastaba (Nr 3503, 16x42 m) in
Sakkara where her name has been found as inscriptions on
stone vessels, jars and seal impressions.
Mer-Neith is a unique figure in the long line of
Egyptian rulers being a woman, and a theory why she
reached this lofty position is that she was related to
the old king Djer, possibly being his daughter. This
would have given her a position respectable enough to
run the country during the infancy of her son, the
future king Den.

REINA REGENTE

ANKHESENPEPI II (aka.
ANKHNESMERYRE II) (6th Dynasty)

Pepi I married two sisters
both named Ankhnesmeryre. (Ankhesenpepi is another version of the
same name. The second of these two women bore the son we call Pepi
II. This son had a particularly long reign (some say over 90 years)
and was only 6 years old when he came to the throne following the
sudden death of an older brother. Ankhesenpepi II may have acted as
his regent possibly assisted by her brother, Djau. Evidence of her
rule is inconclusive. A picture was found in the Sinai that depicts
her wearing a Uraeus, but the identification has been disputed.

Queen
known to us from later records in Turin Canon and
Manetho.
Unfortunately documentation in form of contemporary to her
artifacts which could confirm her historical existence are
missing. Legends passed by Manetho should be considered with
care. Turin Canon assigns to her 2 years, 1 month and 1 day
of rule while Manetho – 12 years and Erastotenes – 6 years.

The Turin
Canon mentions her name and Manetho said of her that she was braver
than a man, the most beautiful of women, and fair skinned with red
cheeks. Herodotus says that a group of conspirators assassinated
the king and installed his sister, Nitocris, on the throne instead.
She had a large underground chamber built and then invited to dinner
in it all the men she believed to have been involved in the murder
of her brother. She then committed suicide by throwing herself onto
burning embers. No archeological evidence of her reign has ever
been found. If she did rule her reign marked the end of the 6th
dynasty and the Old Kingdom.

Turin
Canon
assigns 3 years, 10 months and 24 days of rule, while
Manetho
– 4 years. She was younger sister (and wife) of
Amenemhat IV, presumably daughter of Amenemhat III.
Statues of Tell ed-Daba and architrave of Herakleopolis
are preserved. Inscription on the nilometer at Nubian
Semna records 3 years of her rule. Building of
pyramid at Mazghuna has not been completed, and
probably never used, only its underground part was
finished.

Amenemhet III ruled successfully for some 45 years, greatly
expanding the agricultural potential of the Faiyum, and
extending his influence into Nubia, the Sinai and Syria. He was
the last great ruler of the twelfth dynasty. His successor was
a son or grandson named Amenemhet IV, who ruled for some 8 or 9
years.

Sobeknefru was a half sister of Amenemhet IV. Some have
suggested that she was his wife and other that she was a rival,
but there is no evidence to support either contention. It is
possible that she began as regent for an infant son before
claiming the throne in her own right.

Unfortunately we know very little about her beyond the fact that
she really did reign, albeit only for 3 or 4 years. Manetho
mentions her in his list of Egyptian rulers and she also appears
in the Turin Canon. A Nubian Nilometer is dated to the 3rd
year of her reign and a cylindrical seal bears her name and
title. Three headless statues of her were found in the Faiyum,
and a part of Amenemhet III’s Labyrinth can be attributed to her.

Manetho reported that it
had been decided some time in the 2nd Dynasty that a
woman could be king, but it clearly posed problems for the
Egyptians. They were accustomed to think in terms of opposites:
light and dark, good and evil, order and chaos, male and female.
One could not very well have one without the other. A king
needed a queen, but what was to be done with a reigning queen?
If she were married one might presume her husband would become
king; if she were not, where was the male component---the
opposite without which nothing could exist. In the English
language it is easy enough to find gender neutral terms for
every situation. The word monarch, for example refers to a
crowned ruler but does not specify sex. There are no gender
neutral words in the Egyptian language. On cannot refer to a
person, title or office without revealing gender.

Sobeknefru seems to have
been uncertain as to how to resolve this problem. Some
artifacts bear female titulary and others male. One of the
statues show her wearing a male kilt over a female shift.
Unfortunately none show her head and since neither her mummy nor
her burial place has been found we have no way of knowing what
she looked like.

LA MUJERES REALES EN
EL REINO NUEVO

In the New
Kingdom the Queen became much more prominent and powerful. She acquired
in her own right secular and religious titles that carried with them
genuine jobs to do and estates with land, servants and administrators to
provide an independent income. The title God's Wife of Amun
provided the Queen with her own source of money and gave her a
considerable degree of independence.

Since the heir of
Tuthmosis II, a son by a harem-girl named Isis, was too
young to rule on his own, the old king's Great Wife,
Hatshepsut became the regent. Gradually she began to play
down her role as regent until she finally declared herself
to be the Female Horus and official ruler of Egypt. See
Hatshepsut---The Female Horus for further information.

One
of the most controversial characters in Egyptian
history. Experts in the subject created many
theories to light up darkness of that period.
According
to one of the hypotheses he might have been son
of Amenhotep III and princess Sitamun and
half-brother and successor of Akhenaten. It is
also possible he was co-regent in last years of
Akhenaten’s rule. According to various scholars
Semenkhkare might have ruled from 2 to 5 years.
Some believe that he died shortly before
Akhenaten, aged 25. There is hypothesis that
Semenkhkare was father of Tutankhamen. According
to C. Aldred of Scotland, the most outstanding
experts on those times, Semenhkare and
Tutankhamun were brothers. With high reliability
it can be said that mummy found in 1907 by
T. Davies in
KV55 tomb in the
Valley of the Kings was mummy of Semenkhkare.
As the blood groups of both mummies were the
same this fact would additionally confirm that
they were close relatives and thus Aldred’s
hypothesis seems to be very likely. Certainly
Semenkhkare was husband of one of Ekhnaten’s
daughters, the princess Merytaten. According to
R. Krauss she might have held rule single-handed
through a year after Akhenaten’s death. By
marriage with her Semenkhkare reinforced his
rights to the throne. The belief that
Semenkhkare was co-regent of Akhenaten for a
couple of years is recently the most popular. It
is also possible that they were in much closer
relations

Wife
of Seti II, step-mother of Siptah. As
Seti-Merenptah, the son of Taweseret
(or Takhat) and Seti II, who was the legal heir,
died prematurely, the throne was passed to Taweseret’s
minor stepson – Siptah. The queen held rule as
regent in his behalf and after death of 20-years
old king she overtook it also formally. She
started even counting length of her reign
including years of regency. That’s why Manetho
ascribed to her 7 years of rule. The reason for
decline of Taweseret’s
rule was conflict with
Sethnakht.
Burial place –
tomb KV14 in Kings’ Valley.

When Seti II died, his Great Royal Wife, Queen Twosret,
became regent for her husband’s son by a Syrian concubine.
The son suffered from a deformed left leg, possibly the
result of polio. When the child died there was apparently
no other male heir so she simply assumed the full titles of
Pharaoh and continued to rule in her own name as she had
before in the name of her stepson. She acted as regent for
six years and ruled in her own name for only two more. The
history of these years is very murky. The record speaks of
an official named Bay who called himself “chancellor of the
entire land” and who further claimed to have “established
the king on the throne of his father”. While the
formalities were modeled on those of Hatshepsut it is
unlikely that she ever exercised much power.

The decline of central authority had already begun in the
reign of Rameses III. By Twosret's reign civil unrest was
all too common. She began construction of a mortuary temple
to the south of the Ramesseum but never finished it. She was
originally buried in KV 14, but her mummy was moved. The
Cairo Museum has a mummy that might be hers but it has never
been positively identified.

Daughter
of Antiokh III and Leodike. She was married to
Ptolemy V Epiphanes in 194/3 thus approving
peace between Ptolemys and Seleucids. She was
mother of three rulers: Ptolemy IV, Ptolemy VII
and Cleopatra II. Yet being alive, she was
deified together with her husband and then
honored with Horus name and numerous titles
reserved for rulers. After Epiphanes’ death in
180 she became regent and held rule in behalf of
her minor child, Ptolemy VI. She died in 178/7
BC.

11.
CLEOPATRA II

170 -
132 - 127
124 -
116 - 116/5

Cleopatra II

... ...

... ...

... ...

... ...

qlwptrt (nTrt
mr(t) mwt)

nTrt-mnxt

qlwptrt
(nTrt mr(t) mwt) Cleopatra
netjeret meret Mut

Daughter
of Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Cleopatra I. She was
married to her own brother Ptolemy VI; they had
together children: the later coregent Ptolemy
Eupator, Ptolemy VII and two daughters:
Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III. In 145 she
married Ptolemy VIII who came to the rule by
killing his potential pretender, Ptolemy VII.
One year later their son Memfites was born. In
132 as result of civil war, she overtook
independently the rule in the land and drove
Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III out to Cyprus.
Cleopatra did not have support of Egyptian
people and her rule rested only against Greeks
and Jews. For this reason Ptolemy VIII returned
in 130 and regained the rule. After failure of a
couple of intrigues organized with Demetrios II
against Egypt, Cleopatra could participate in
common rule of three in Alexandria since 124 BC.

140 -116/5
- 101

12. Cleopatra III

nb(t)-tAwi kA-nxt

... ...

... ...

... ...

qlwptrt

tA nTrt mr(t)
sn

nb(t)-tAwi
kA-nxt

qlwptrt
Cleopatra

Daughter
of Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II. She was married
to Ptolemy VIII and gave him five children:
Ptolemy IX, Tryphaine, Cleopatra (IV), Ptolemy X
and Cleopatra Selene. She ruled with her husband
and mother, later with sons: Ptolemy IX and X.
It seems that she played leading role on
Alexandrian court after Ptolemy VIII’s death and
she held actually the rule until being murdered
on Ptolemy X order in September 101 BC.

101 - 88
81 - 80

13.Berenice III

... ...

... ...

... ...

rpat(t) wr(t)-Hsw(t)

birnikt

... ...

rpat(t) wr(t)-Hsw(t)
birnikt repatetweret hesut,
Berenice

Daughter
of Ptolemy IX by Kleopatra Selene, after her
father’s death she ruled in Egypt for half a
year as a Tea Philopator, which was her cult
name. After a Roman dictator Sulla had been
driven out, Ptolemy XI returned to Alexandria
and married the step-mother in order to
strengthen his claim to the rule. A few days
later he had murdered her.

58 - 55

14.Berenice IV

... ...

... ...

... ...

... ...

birnikt

Daughter
of Ptolemy XII by Kleopatra V Tryphaine. After
driving her father out of Rome she held rule
over Egypt, initially together with her mother
and after her death in 57 BC – independently. In
56 BC she married Archelaos, son of Mitrydates
VI. In 55 BC after his return to Rome, Ptolemy
XII ordered to kill Berenice an many of her
followers.

She was a Greek, not an Egyptian, but she ruled Egypt at a
time when Rome was struggling to become the dominant power
in the Mediterranean World. Cleopatra, one of the most
famous women of all time, tried to find a balance between
independence and co-operation with Rome. While she failed,
there was certainly lots of drama in the attempt. See
Cleopatra for the full story.

Daughter
of Ptolemy XII, sister of Kleopatra VI Tryphaine, Berenike
IV, Arsinoe, Ptolemy XIII and XIV. She was 18 years old as
in 51 BC she came to the throne by marrying her own brother,
13 years old Ptolemy XIII. She was very well educated, spoke
many oriental languages. She got into conflict with her
regency council which drove her out of Alexandria in 49 BC.
Her teenaged brother, aided by three of regents: Poteinos,
Achillas and Teodotos, did not let her return. As known, she
regained the throne with support of Julius Caesar who played
a role of arbiter between the sister and brother. Hostile
attitude of Poteinos who stirred up Alexandrians and
Ptolemeian army drove to Alexandrian war. It resulted in
imprisoning of Ptolemy XIII, burning of Alexandrian library,
and taking by Caesar the control over palace district and
port with lighthouse at Faros and finally victory of tiny
Roman army over the Egyptian one, counting more than 20
thousand warriors. In 47 BC Alexandria surrendered to Caesar
and Kleopatra. After Ptolemy XIII’s death Kleopatra gained
fullness of royal power, formally assigning Ptolemy XIV as a
co-regent. In 46 BC she visited Rome where Caesar celebrated
his triumph. After Ceasar’s death in March 44, Cleopatra
avoided political intrigues and did not take part in
struggle for rule in Rome. In April she returned to Egypt.
However famous meeting with Antonius at Tarsos made
Kleopatra a partisan of Marcus Antonius whom she later bore
three children: Alexandros Helios, Cleopatra Selene and
Ptolemy Philadelphos. Antony was defeated by Partos. His
wife Fulvia and brother Lucius set him at variance with
Octavian. In aftermaths of this conflict war was
unavoidable, despite Antony’s marriage with Octavia, the
Octavian’s sister. In 34 BC Antonius confirmed Kleoptara’s
royal power as queen of Egypt and Cyprus and accepted
Ptolemy XV Caesarion which was evident politic attack
against Octavian who did not recognize the son of Caesar. In
32 BC Antony was deprived of designation for office of
consul as well as other leading functions. Kleopatra
declared war against Rome. Strategic mistakes done by Antony,
treason and desertion of legions lead to battle at Actium in
31 BC. After treason of Cyrenaica, Syria and Jewish state as
well as Egyptian fleet and cavalary, Egypt was no more able
to defend from Octavian’s and Gaius Gallus’s aggression.
August 1, 30 BC Alexandria had been conquered. Antonius
committed suicide. So did Cleoptara on 12 August 30 BC, thus
giving end to the Ptolemaic Period in Egypt. The Land
of the Pharaohs became just a district of Roman Empire.

Intaglio with a representation of Isis and Horus
(Cleopatra VII and her son of Caesar Ptolemy XV
Caesarion?)

Middle
first century BC

Alexandria (?)

Chalcedony

La muerte de Cleopatra

Note: Ahhotep I was the mother of Ahmose. There is a stela
at Karnak praising her for guarding Egypt, looking after her
soldiers, pacifying Upper Egypt and driving out the rebels.
Her deeds appear to go well beyond what was normal for an
ordinary King's Great Wife, leading some to wonder if she
might have served as regent for her son Ahmose when he first
came to the throne.

Note: It has also been suggested by some that Ahmose-Nefertari
acted as regent for her young son, Amenhotep I. This is
based on little more than the length of his reign and the
fact that a brother had been named heir apparent about five
years earlier.

I'm not sure what the logical burial
place for Ankhesenamun would have been. The Queens of the late
18th dynasty did not get their own tomb it seems.

Horemheb's Queen Mutnedjemet was buried in his Memphis tomb.
Akhenaten's Queen Nefertiti was meant to be buried with him in
Amarna.
Amenhotep II's Queen Tiye seems to have been shifted around:
from Amarna(?) to the Valley of the Kings.

Ankhesenamen was never meant to be buried with any of her
husbands though. There's really no room in Tut's tomb, and she
is never mentioned in Aye's tomb. In Aye's tomb, his Queen is
clearly his wife Tey.

Equally missing is Ankhesenamen's older sister Meritaten. Her
tomb/mummy would be very interesting to find too.
_________________
Lady of the Two Lands who lives on Maat, Lady of Charm, Mistress
of the Double Plumes, L.P.H, Hereditary Princess, High Priestess
of Seshat and Sekhmet.

Ankhesenamun (wife
of Tutankhamun) is shown wearing the kind of crown used by New Kingdom
queens to demonstrate their increased prestige.

The Amarna Experiment would made excellent
supplementary reading for students of Ancient History. The story
covers the lives of the best known family in Ancient Egypt---that
of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. The story also stresses
the idea that the crises of history are created by real people
with real emotions, and describes the daily life of Ancient
Egyptians, both within and without the palace.

The Amarna Experiment is available in Hardcover,
Paperback and Ebook formats.

Click here to
order in hardcover format from amazon.com

Click here to order in
paperback or ebook format from iuniverse.com

Editorial Reviews

Product Description:
As Pharaoh of Egypt, Akhenaten decided to turn into
reality his dream of a better world, where everyone
worshipped the same God. Pharaohs were absolute monarchs,
yet Ancient Egypt was a conservative country that prized
stability and continuity above all else. Would he
succeed in getting an entire nation to abandon its
traditional gods and goddesses? Would he find an heir
willing to continue the experiment after he died? Would
Egypt be able to survive as a major power with just a
single deity to hold it together?

Young adults will enjoy this fictionalized
presentation of the lives of Akhenaten, Nefertiti,
Tutankhamun, and other members of the Egyptian royal
family, as they struggle to resolve the conflict between
their duty to the country and their love for each other.
As the story unfolds, readers will not only gain an
understanding of a political and religious crisis, but
also see a vivid picture of daily life in Ancient Egypt
as a colorful cast of characters goes about its business.
A final section, Â“The Historical BackgroundÂ”, examines
some of the controversies surrounding the period, and
ties the events of the novel to what is actually known
about the Amarna Era.

The Amarna Experiment

James C. Thompson

As Pharaoh of Egypt, Akhenaten decided to turn into reality his
dream of a better world, where everyone worshipped the same God.
Pharaohs were absolute monarchs, yet Ancient Egypt was a
conservative country that prized stability and continuity above
all else. Would he succeed in getting an entire nation to
abandon its traditional gods and goddesses? Would he find an
heir willing to continue the experiment after he died? Would
Egypt be able to survive as a major power with just a single
deity to hold it together?

Young adults will enjoy this fictionalized presentation of
the lives of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, and other
members of the Egyptian royal family, as they struggle to
resolve the conflict between their duty to the country and their
love for each other. As the story unfolds, readers will not only
gain an understanding of a political and religious crisis, but
also see a vivid picture of daily life in Ancient Egypt as a
colorful cast of characters goes about its business. A final
section, "The Historical Background", examines some of the
controversies surrounding the period, and ties the events of the
novel to what is actually known about the Amarna Era.

Product Description:
As Pharaoh of Egypt, Akhenaten decided to turn
into reality his dream of a better world, where
everyone worshipped the same God. Pharaohs were
absolute monarchs, yet Ancient Egypt was a
conservative country that prized stability and
continuity above all else. Would he succeed in
getting an entire nation to abandon its
traditional gods and goddesses? Would he find an
heir willing to continue the experiment after he
died? Would Egypt be able to survive as a major
power with just a single deity to hold it
together?

Young adults will enjoy this fictionalized
presentation of the lives of Akhenaten,
Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, and other members of the
Egyptian royal family, as they struggle to
resolve the conflict between their duty to the
country and their love for each other. As the
story unfolds, readers will not only gain an
understanding of a political and religious
crisis, but also see a vivid picture of daily
life in Ancient Egypt as a colorful cast of
characters goes about its business. A final
section, Â“The Historical BackgroundÂ”, examines
some of the controversies surrounding the
period, and ties the events of the novel to what
is actually known about the Amarna Era.

The Egyptians
never told us why this change took place, but we can guess. Emerging
out of a period of profound civil unrest, the New Kingdom saw a
deliberate attempt to enhance the power and prestige of the monarchy.
Perhaps a prominent queen was a part of the technique used by the kings
to make themselves more visible from one end of the land to the other.

Following the
horrors of World War II the United States ended its self imposed
isolation and decided to play a major role in world affairs. Egypt
seems to have done the same thing at the beginning of the New Kingdom.
For the first time it established a full time army for service in peace
time and in war and for the first time it sought to establish control
over lands that contained people who were not Egyptian. A simple way to
demonstrate friendship between two countries was to arrange a marriage
between the king of one country and the king's daughter of another.
Royal polygamy made this feasible but increased the need to distinguish
between the "real" wife and the ceremonial wives.

Egyptian kings
had always had secondary wives, probably to increase the odds of having
the all important son to inherit the throne, but the royal harem was
small and discrete and kept very much in the background. The number of
secondary wives increased in the New Kingdom and for the first time we
see the use of the expression "King's Great Wife" to differentiate
between the primary wife and the lesser wives.

Egyptians used
the terms "King's Great Wife", "King's Wife" and "King's Mother" where
we would use the term Queen. Their phrasing was much more explicit than
ours and clearly identified the queen's place in the scheme of things.

SUCCESSION

The rules of
succession provided that the next pharaoh would be the eldest son by the
King's Great Wife. Failing that, it would be a son by a lesser wife.
Unfortunately we do not have enough evidence to determine exactly how
that rule functioned in practice. Did a Pharaoh have a say in which of
his lesser wives would have her son become Pharaoh? We do know that on
occasion a Pharaoh would appoint his heir-apparent as co-regent and this
would certainly help eliminate any controversy over the succession. If
there was no son by a lesser wife then the throne went to some other
male relative. Always, however, the throne went to a man.

At one
time it was believed that the succession was matrilineal. The throne
went to the man who married the Heiress Princess. The Heiress Princess
would be the eldest daughter of the Heiress Queen, so in most cases kings would end up marrying their
sisters. The theory was developed to explain the large number of
brother-sister marriages in the royal family. Although largely
discredited some scholars still cling tenaciously to the theory.

If the heir was
a child at the time he became Pharaoh then his mother (presumably the
Great Wife of the previous monarch) could become regent. This did
happen on several occasions and in each case the mother performed all of
the ceremonial and political requirements of the job. When Thuthmosis
III ascended the throne as a young child in the New Kingdom his mother,
Hatshepsut, as expected, became regent and carried out all the duties of
king on behalf of her son. After a few years, however, she simply
abandoned the whole idea of a regency and began to call herself the
Female Horus, the legitimate Pharaoh, and ruled as full king until her
death.

The last time
in the New Kingdom that the heir was a child was in the reign of
Tutankhamun, who ascended the throne at the age of eight or nine.
Presumably there was someone in the background telling the young king
what to do (the most likely candidate for this job was Aye, the chief
advisor in the reign of Akhenaten), but there was no formally proclaimed
regent. This meant, of course, that Tutankhamun had to marry
Ankhesenamun right away, although Egypt had no history of child marriage.
Although there are several possibilities, we do not really know who
Tutankhamun's mother was, and it is quite possible that she had died
before he became king and was not available to be regent.

WOMEN
WHO REIGNED AS PHARAOHS

Apart from Hatshepsut and Cleopatra, whose careers are
described elsewhere in this web site, the record is too
murky to produce a definitive list of women who reigned
as pharaoh. There are some who probably ruled, but
might not have, and there are some who probably did not,
but might have. The names of the possible women
pharaohs are listed below along with the evidence that
supports the claim that they did indeed rule Egypt.